Phillies Scoop: Catcher Tommy Joseph impressive behind Roy Halladay

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Tommy Joseph wanted to get a feel for his battery mate. After all, it was his first time catching this pitcher in a game.

So, the 21-year-old prospect decided to sit between innings with the pitcher and have a dialogue.

"He wanted to talk a lot in between innings," Roy Halladay said with a smile, "which really isn't my thing. But I didn't mind it because he was just trying to get a feel for what I wanted to do and things like that."

Aside from two Cy Youngs and his reputation as the preeminent right-handed pitcher of the last decade, Halladay has a reputation for being intense and aloof during his outings.

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That didn't discourage Joseph, who had a dream performance while working all nine innings in the Phillies' 6-3 Grapefruit League win over the Nationals at Bright House Field.

"Yeah, I tried to talk to him in between every inning," Joseph said, "just to see how he was feeling, see what he wanted to do the next inning and just kind of work from there and see how he works.

"I was kind of scared at first. I was like, 'I don't know if he wants to talk to me.' But as the innings went on, I felt comfortable with him and when I started calling pitches and he started throwing what I wanted, I thought, 'All right, this guy knows what he wants to do and we're on the same page.'

"It was great."

In addition to handling Halladay and the rest of the pitchers with aplomb, the main piece to come from San Francisco in last summer's Hunter Pence trade also threw out a would-be base stealer and went 3-for-4 with a pair of singles off Stephen Strasburg and a double.

Charlie Manuel had a backup catcher at the ready if he wanted to pull Joseph, but never did.

"I left him in there, didn't I? I liked the way he was playing," Manuel said.

As if that weren't enough, Joseph was the last player to leave the ballpark, as he signed dozens of autographs and endured a pair of interview sessions.

"Hey, that takes stones," Dubee said. "That's good for a catcher. That's leadership. You've got a two-time Cy Young guy who's got over 200 wins and he's confident enough to go up there and talk to him. Roy might not be the perfect guy (to do that with), but that's good."

At the end of this year Carlos Ruiz becomes a free agent, and there's a chance an outside team might go longer and pricier on a contract with the 34-year-old All-Star than the Phils are comfortable paying. And although it would seem Joseph might be a little green for taking over a majority of the catching duties in 2014, he certainly has made the organization wonder if he might be closer to ready than even the scouts thought when he was acquired.

Halladay certainly was impressed.

"I don't know if you just notice more as you get older," Halladay said, "but to me it seems especially in this organization, the younger catchers we've had have had a lot better idea of calling games.

"I thought he did a great job. He was very on top of things and aware of what was going on in games and situations. That's what you want to see."

NOTES: Ryan Howard, Domonic Brown and Laynce Nix gave the Phils three consecutive left-handed hitters in the order Wednesday, and against Washington southpaw Fernando Abad those three all picked up hits -- a clean single to center by Howard, a sharply struck double to right-center by Brown, and a bloop, two-run single down the left-field line by Nix. ... Right-hander B.J. Rosenberg, who was scratched from his last outing with a sore triceps, said he will pitch a bullpen session today and expects to make his scheduled appearance Saturday. ... Cliff Lee starts today for the Phils as they host the Twins.